Chivu restores his spine as Inter host Club Brugge in the Champions League
Lautaro Martinez, Nicolò Barella and Alessandro Bastoni return to Cristian Chivu's starting XI for a San Siro clash with Nicolò Tresoldi's Club Brugge, though a midfield puzzle remains unsolved.
Cristian Chivu has reinstated three of his most important players for Inter's Champions League fixture against Club Brugge at San Siro, with Lautaro Martinez, Nicolò Barella and Alessandro Bastoni all returning to the starting XI after being rested in Serie A last weekend, according to Football Italia.
The trio sat out the win over Parma as Chivu rotated his squad, a decision that looks in hindsight like squad management with this European night in mind rather than a response to poor form.
Their reintroduction restores the core of Inter's usual approach: Bastoni anchoring the left side of a back three, Barella driving box-to-box in midfield, and Lautaro leading the line alongside Marcus Thuram.
Why the Stankovic-Calhanoglu question still matters
Chivu's one unresolved selection dilemma sits in central midfield, where Aleksandar Stankovic and Hakan Calhanoglu are competing for the same starting berth, a contest reported by Gazzetta, Tuttosport and Sky Sport Italia alongside Football Italia's own sourcing.
The choice is not a minor one. Calhanoglu's distribution and set-piece delivery have long made him the metronome of Inter's build-up from deep, while Stankovic offers more mobility and a different rhythm to how the team progresses the ball through midfield.
In a 3-5-2, the deepest midfielder effectively functions as a quasi-regista, dictating tempo between two centre-backs who can split wide to receive. Whoever starts there shapes how patiently or how directly Inter try to work the ball into the Lautaro-Thuram partnership up front.
Andy Diouf is expected to occupy the right-sided midfield role in Inter's five-man line, with Federico Dimarco holding his usual post on the left. Djed Spence, who made his Inter debut against Parma, is available among the substitutes rather than in the starting XI.
Club Brugge build around Tresoldi up front
Club Brugge arrive set up in a 4-2-3-1, built to spring Nicolò Tresoldi in behind Inter's back three. The 22-year-old striker, who holds dual Italian and German citizenship, is still to decide which nation he will represent at senior level, a choice he is expected to make in 2027.
Tresoldi will lead the line with Kyriani Sabbe, Brandon Mechele, Ignace Van der Brempt and Joaquín Seys forming Brugge's back four, protected by a double pivot of Vetlesen and Potts. Christos Tzolis-style width is instead provided by Forbs and Virgili either side of captain Hans Vanaken in the number ten role, with Simon Mignolet's deputy, Nordin Jackers, or whoever is named in goal behind them, a detail not specified beyond the listed XI.
That shape asks real questions of Inter's wing-backs. Dimarco and Diouf will need to track Brugge's wide forwards while also looking to support attacks themselves, a dual responsibility that is the defining strain of the 3-5-2 against a team playing with orthodox width.
If Brugge's full-backs push forward in support of Forbs and Virgili, Inter's back three could be pulled wide, opening space centrally for Vanaken to exploit between the lines — precisely the kind of underload a possession-based number ten looks to find against a back three.
What Inter need from their first-choice spine
Returning Lautaro, Barella and Bastoni to the XI is as much about control as attacking threat. Barella's capacity to win the ball back high and Bastoni's comfort stepping into midfield when Inter have possession both help the team avoid the transitions that a counter-attacking side like Brugge would want to provoke.
Inter's absentees remain unchanged from recent weeks: John Stones and Curtis Jones are both missing through injury, continuing to deprive Chivu of two options who had been expected to contribute from England's recent transfer window arrivals.
The match kicks off at 21:00 CET at the Stadio Meazza in Milan, with coverage in the UK and Ireland available through TNT Sports and HBO Max, and American viewers able to follow via Paramount+.
A win would keep Inter's Champions League campaign on course domestically and continentally, while a positive result for Brugge would mark a significant away scalp against a club accustomed to deep European runs under Chivu's predecessors.